Cutting-off tool



1,535,348 A. L. SEGELHORST CUTTING-OFF TOOL Filed Sept. 18, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 AApril 28, 1925.

HY 4% 4 M Z 4 fp?? l a 2 A Patented Apr. 28, 1925..

'UNITED' STATES 'PATENT` OFFICE.

i AUGUST L. SEGELHORST, F WHITTIR, CALIFORNIA.

cU'r'rING-orr Toon.

To all whom t may concern."

Be it known that I, AUGUST L. SEGEL- rroRsT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Whittier, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and"useful Cutting-Cif Tool, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to well drilling equipment and accessories, and relates particularly to tools for cutting ofi' vdrill pipe or tubing within a well. u

In rotary well drilling, it often occurs that due to the jamming of the tool or caving in of the walls of the hole, drill pipe is twisted oli' within the well. It further often occurs that before lishing tools can be lowered into the well to grapple the submerged-drill pipe, sand will settlein around the tool and prevent its being raised from the hole. Under these circumstances it is necessary to cut oil the drill pipe down as close to the sand as possible, and to then wash out the sand, or

length of the drill pipe. This procedure is continued until the drilling tool is reached, whereupon it may be drawn 'from the well and the drilling of the well proceeded with in the customary manner. The salvaging of the drill pipe is accomplished by attaching a cutting olf tool to the lowerl end of a line of pipe, of larger size thanv the drill pipe,

` and lowering the cutting off tool down over the end ofthe submerged pipe to the point at which it is desired to make the cut, the

portion of the submerged drill pipe above the point at which the cut is to be made eX- tending upwardly within the string of pipe to which the cutting ofl tool is attached'.

It is an object of my invention to provide a simple and efficient cutting oft' tool which may be employed in the above described manner, and which may be caused to accomplish the cutting ot of the submerged drill pipe by rotating the line of pipe to which it is attached. f

It is afurther ob'ect of the invention to' provide a cutting o tool which may be employed to lift the severed portion of the pipe from the'well.

The especial advantages of my invention` illustrative purposes only.

stock andh'as mounted in the center thereof lars upon the submerged drill pipe by the retracting levers provided therewith.

Fig.. 5 is a vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 4 showing the disposal of the elements of the cutting off tool after a cut has been made through the drill pipe.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view, taken substantially as indicated by the line6-6 of Fig. 2. l i

As shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing my in- -Vention employs a tubular member 11 having a portion of same depending upon the extent of the till, and then cut off' an additional i vertical slots 12 cut therein. The number and placement of these slots may be changed as desired; but for general purposes I have found it practical to employ four slots. Inc` each of the slots .12 a curved spring 13 is placed, which is made from flat spring steel a cutter 14. The displacement of the springs 13 outwardly through the slots 12 is prevented bya sleeve 18 which is placed over the lower end of the member 11 resting against.a shoulder 19 near the upper end thereof and being secured against rotation by screws 20. Levers 25 pivoted in the ends of the slots 12, upon pins 26 which extend through holes 27, lay over the ends of the springs 13 and are held thereagainst by clips 28; thus preventing the forwarddel'lection of the springs 13 beyond certain prescribed limits by the engagement of shoulders 30 on the upper ends of thel levers 25 with the ends 31 of the slots 12. The cutters 14 are made of self-hardening steel and are secured to the springs 13A either by welding, or by riveting as shown at 32. It is customary to provide .pipe with right hand threads; therea fore,l I have shown the tools 14 relieved at 33, in such a manner that the right hand rotation of the drill pipe will accomplish a cutting action on the part of the cutters.

The upper end of the tubular member 11 is threaded at- 35 so that it may be screwed upon the lower end of a line of pipe 36, as o kcatching .the cutters orlthe levers 25, with resulting injury thereto, I provide a sleeve which is forced into the cutting off tool as shown in Fig. 1, and which has the purpose of holding the levers and the cutters in retracted position as shown at 47 and which is provided with a bell mouth 48 for receiving, and directing through the cutting off tool, the jagged end 43 of the line of drill pipe 42. The jagged end 43 is received in the mouth 48 of the sleeve 45 and the end A40 slides up within the sleeve, whereupon the sleeve is carried on up through the cutting off tool and the string of pipe 36 by the collar 50 as the cutting off tool is lowered over the drill pipe 42.

One of the principal features ,of my invention resides in the provision of the levers 25 which are of the shape shown and serve as a means for liftingthe cutters 14 over the collars 50 of the drill pipe as the cutting off tool is lowered thereover. The action of these levers is illustrated in Fig. 4. It will be perceived that the levers are somewhat arcuated in form and that they present inclined faces when in the forward position, this forward position being shown in Figs. 2 and 5. Asthe tool is moved along the pipe in either direction by either raising or lowering the string of pipe36 to which it is attached, collars 50 are encountered. The levers 25 prevent the cutting tools striking the collars and being injured thereby, by engaging the inclinedV faces 55 and thereupon forcing the levers 25 outwardly, with the result that the springs 13 are forced back into the slots as shown at in Fig. 4, the cutters thus being removed from the path of the collar; which, retraction of the cutters I herein speak of as the lifting of the cutters over collars or similar projections. The levers 25, being made of spring material in the arcuated form shown, are also of a resilient nature, and in event that the tool encounters bumps upon the collar 25 or' other enlargements which would not be .accommodated by the deiection of the springs 13 into fiat positions against the inner face of the enclosing sleeve 18, the levers 25 are themselves given flexibility to permit the tool to pass over such additional enlargements by also flattening out to a certain extent.

.I When the point is reached at which the cut is desired to be made, the upper end of the pipe 36 is gripped in the rotary and the string of pipe then rotated in forward direcltion, thus causing the cutters to operate upon the metal of the drill pipe 42, with the result that the drill pipe 1s soon cut through, as indicated at in Fig. 5.. The cutters are made of sufiicient length to extend beyond the faces 67 of the levers 25 slightly more than the thickness of the pipe to be cut, so that the cutting off of the drill pipe will be completed beforethe faces 67 come to rest against the outer surface of the drill pipe.

With reference to Fig. 2 it will be perceived that the upper faces 70 of the cutters 14 slope slightly upwardly, thus forming shelves upon which the upper, or cut off,

portion of drill pipe 71, shown in Fig. 5, may rest and thereby be lifted from the hole with the cutting off tool. Although the cutters 14 bear \upon the drill pipe as the tool is being lowered thereover, they are prevented from being struck by the collars on the drill pipe by the levers 25 in the manner hereinbefore described so that no injury is sustained by the cutters due to the lowering of the tool in cutting position.

Another feature of my invention is that the cutting off tool may be recovered from the well without performing the cutting operation for the reason that the levers are arranged both above and below the cutters permitting the tool to be either raised or lowered as occasion may require.

The cutting ofi' tool I have invented will be seen to be very simple in construction, and its efficiency in operation is evident when consideration is taken of tests which I have made under simulants of actual working conditions, and in which tests pipe has been cut through in three minutes time.

I claim'as my invention:

1. In a rotary cutting off tool the combination of: a cutter supporting body; cutter members associated with said body in resiliently projecting positions; and mea-ns for lifting said cutter members over projections s projections as said body is moved along the 4, Ina rotary cutting oli tool the combination of: a cutter supportingnbody; cutter members over projections as said body is moved along the pipe. ,Y

5. In a rotary cutting off tool the combination of: a cutter supporting body; cutter members; arcuated flat spring members supporting lsaid cutter members in projecting positions; and means for lifting said cutter members over projections as said body 1s moved along the pipe.v

6. In a rotary cutting off tool the combination of: a cutter supporting body; cutter 'members associated With said body in resiliently projecting positions; and levers bearing against the pipe to be cut for lift-y ing said cutter members over projections as said body is kmoved along the pipe.

7. In a rotary cutting olf tool the combination of: a cutter supporting body; cutter members; spring members supporting said cutter members in projectingI positions; and levers bearing against thepipe to be cut for lifting said cutter members over projections as said body is moved along the pipe.

8. In a rotary cuttingmoff tool the combinationof: av cutter supporting body; cutter members v;arcuated lia-t spring members supporting said cutter members in projecting positions; and leversy bearing against the pipe to be cut for lifting said cutter mem1 bers over projections as said body is moved 9. In a rotary cutting olf tool the combination of: a cutter supporting body, cutter members associated Withsaidl body in resiliently' projecting positions; and members bearing against the pipe to becut for lift- -ing said cutter members over projections as said body is moved along the pipe.

10. In a rotary cutting ofi tool the combination of: a cutter supporting body cutter members arcuated flat spring4 members sup-` porting said cutterA members `in projecting positions; and members bearing against the pipe to be cutfor liting`said cutter mem- `bers over projections as said body is moved along the pipe.

11. In a rotary cutting off tool the combination' of: a. cutter supporting body; cutter members associated with said body in resiliently projecting positions; and means for lifting said cutter members over projections as said body is moved along the pipe; and a removable sleeve for holding said cutter members in retracted positions and for guiding the end of the pipe to which the cutting off tool is being applied.,

l2. In a rotary cutting off tool the comb-ination of: a cutter supporting body; cutter members; arcuated liat spring members supporting said cutter members in projecting positions `and resilient levers bearing against the pipe to be cut fork lifting said cutter members over projections as said body is moved along the pipe; and a removable sleeve for holding said cutter members in retracted positions and for guiding the end of the pipe to which the cutting off tool is being applied.

13. In a rotary cutting ofi' tool, the combination of: a cutter supporting body having vertical channels therein; cutter members; arcuated flat springs disposed in said channels, for supporting said cutter members in projecting positions; and levers overlaying said flat springs for lifting said cutter members over projections upon the pipel to.

which vthe cutting ofi' tool is applied.

14. In a rotary cutting off tool, the comb-ination of: a cutter supporting body having vertical channels therein; cutter'members; arcuated iiat springs disposed in said channels, for supporting said cutter members in projecting positions; and levers pivoted in j AUGUST L. SEGELI-IORST. 

